Reviews

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 falls short of the high bar set by its predecessor, with niggly control issues, a somewhat empty open world, and frustrating stealth sections sucking a bit of life out of the experience. Fortunately, fans of the original release will undoubtedly enjoy the exciting combat and stellar graphical design on offer here, making this an experience that may still be worth drinking dry.

We’d love to think that there was somebody out there that was desperate to play an on-rails version of the first three Rambo films, and that there’s a reason for this game to exist. Sadly, we suspect that that may just be wishful thinking. It’s more likely, then, that the developers thought that a popular name and a cheap budget would turn a profit – and with a boxed product and the promise of DLC on the way, we imagine that it’ll probably make a fortune.

Features

Hardware revisions are a fact of gaming life; as manufacturers find new ways to cut costs and reduce their overheads, we invariably see new iterations hit the market in the hope that new consumers can be drawn in by the allure of fresh tech and hefty discounts. However, such revisions can come with significant drawbacks; Sony's refresh of the PlayStation 3 famously removed backwards capability with the PlayStation 2, while the PSP E-1000 did away with wireless functionality, making it the handheld that no one bought (or, it could be argued, even remembers).

1981 saw the release of Castle Wolfenstein, a very early Commodore 64 top-down stealth action title that found you angrily taking down the entire Nazi war machine singlehandedly via a series of small, pixelated rooms. Now, some thirty years after the series’ inception, Swedish studio MachineGames is looking to continue the veteran franchise with Wolfenstein: The New Order – but is the property's latest entry for better or for wurst?

News

Sony Santa Monica has been hit by layoffs today, the studio has confirmed. In a statement issued to IGN, the platform holder revealed that the move is a result of “resource re-alignment” and is a decision which it “hasn’t taken lightly”. The firm added that it has offered any affected employees “outplacement services and severance packages in order to ease the transition”.

With thousands of years of literature, poetry, paintings, and plays all boasting humanity’s byline, you could argue that it’s impossible to come up with a truly original idea at this point in time. Sony Santa Monica may be ruing that fact right now, as speculation suggests that Activision’s upcoming first-person blockbuster Destiny may partly be to blame for the cancellation of its rumoured sci-fi epic.

The pricing structure for Konami’s upcoming PlayStation 4 prologue Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has gotten a whisker more palatable today, as the Japanese publisher has announced a slew of pre-launch reductions pertaining to the next generation iteration of the game. Snapping up a boxed copy on Sony’s latest super machine will now cost you £29.99/$29.99, which is considerably cheaper than the intended £39.99/$39.99.

Just as the relatively haunting and mysterious image of those empty chairs against that blood red background was starting to slip from memory, Atlus has unveiled Persona 5's official English website. Much like its Japanese counterpart, it states a clear and simple message: the game will be coming to Western PlayStation 3s in 2015.

We've known for a while that Guerrilla Games, the developer behind the long running Killzone franchise, has been cooking something up for the PlayStation 4 behind-the-scenes, but we've been noticeably short on concrete news. The Amsterdam-based outfit is hot off the heels of the slightly humdrum Killzone: Shadow Fall, so it isn't surprising that it's a bit reticent to share more details.

Video of the Week

The Trials series has been forced to drive down a long and arduous road before making its debut on a PlayStation platform, but it’s now mere months away. Ubisoft has confirmed that RedLynx’s next-gen physics-based motorbike-‘em-up Trials Fusion is set to air its exhaust fumes on PlayStation 4 from 16th April – and it’s bringing the brand’s biggest ever drops along for the ride.